The Adventures of Kathlyn

Kathlyn stepped upon the parapet. A great volume of smoke obscured her

for a moment. Out of the windows the vivid tongues of flame darted,

flashing upward. She summoned all her courage and waited for the call

of the man she loved. Inside a floor gave way with a crash and the

collateral walls of the building swayed ominously. A despairing roar

accompanied the thunder of falling beams. The lions had gone to their

death.

"Jump!"

Without hesitation Kathlyn flung herself into space. A murmur ran

through the crowd which had, for the moment, forgot its own danger in

the wonder of this spectacle. The men holding the net threw themselves

backward as Kathlyn struck the mesh. Even then her body touched the

street cobbles and she was bruised and shaken severely, but, oh, alive,

alive! There rose the great shouting which Umballa and the dancing

girl had heard.

Shortly after the house collapsed. The fire spread to the houses on

each side.

Bruce seized the bearer by the arm. "Now, the house which Umballa

entered?"

Eagerly enough the slave directed him. For all the abuse and beatings

the slave was to have his hour. But they found the house empty, except

for a chattering monkey and a screaming parrakeet, both attached to

pedestal perches. Bruce liberated them and returned to the colonel.

"Gone! Well, let him hide in the jungle, a prey to fear and hunger.

At least we are rid of him. But I shall die unhappy if in this life we

two fail to meet again. Kit!"

"John!" She withdrew from her father's arms and sought those of the

man who loved her and whom she loved, as youth will and must. "Let him

go. Why should we care? Take me to my sister."

Ahmed smiled as he and his men rolled the net. This was as it should

be. For what man was a better mate for his golden-haired Mem-sahib?

And then he thought of Lal Singh, and he choked a little. For Lal

Singh and he had spent many pleasant hours together. They had worked

together in play and in war, shared danger and bread and glory, all of

which was written in the books of the British Raj in Calcutta.

It was the will of Allah; there was but one God, and Mahomet was His

prophet. Then Ahmed dismissed Lal Singh and the past from his

thoughts, after the philosophical manner of the Asiatic, and turned to

the more vital affairs under hand.

At Ramabai's house there was a happy reunion; and on her knees Pundita

confessed to her lord how near she had been to Christian damnation.

She had fallen from grace; she had reverted to the old customs of her

race, to whom suicide was no sin, Ramabai took her in his arms and

touched the forehead with his lips.